There are lots of great tasting figs. The best one I've tasted is Black Madeira out of almost 50 varieties. But it is tough to grow, splits easily and ripens late in the season. Also the tree itself is somewhat slow growing and sensitive to cold. You will have zero issues in zone 9B though.

In your area, I also recommend Bourjassotte Grise: another easy to grow but spectacular tasting fig. If you are upto it, you should try to make a trip to San Jose Prusch Park in fig season. You will be able to taste multiple fig varieties directly off the trees and make your decision that way.

Lots of varieties out there! Most local nurseries do not carry a wide selection. One of the OurFigs forum stickies lists known good sellers if you want something a little more uncommon, but perhaps better tasting than the average fig. This last summer my Violette de Bordeaux produced a few amazing figs. I've been given and purchased cuttings for other varieties and am trying to grow them out now. I've got my fingers crossed that my Black Mission will produce this year. Its really easy to get Fig Fever!

Celeste is a great fig. Somehow it doesnt seem to do all that well in the west coast, i.e. drops figs.

Improved Celeste is earlier and doesn't drop figs. It might be worth growing. But the earlier mentioned varieties are tastier IMO.

Good to know! Yes, Celeste is recommended for Tennessee climate by our Ag folks, etc.Speaking of dropped figs, that's interesting - i purchased a 3-gallon Celeste last spring, planted it, and it dropped all its fruit when they were about marble sized. I chalked it up to first year stress, but maybe it wasn't ....yikes. We'll have to see how it goes this year.

I had some cracking on the bark over the winter that I hope will not cause long term issues.

Are their any varieties that do well in pot? I see them at the nursery's all the time fruiting at 3-4 ft tall but I know figs can get quite large.I'm currently starting a lot of trees in pots and some may stay in docks for years to come.

All varieties will do fine in pots. You will need to settle on a good size 10-15 gallons if possible and root prune every 2 years or so. Also keep the tree pruned to be under 5 feet and not get too large. Since they bear on new wood for the most part, this is easy to do.

That said, some varieties are particularly slow growing and will do better in pots than others. Pastiliere, Little red ruby(a new introduction) and Petite Negri are good varieties for pot growing. Petit Negri is especially productive in potted culture.

Figs taste differently when grown in different areas. In Texas, Louisiana Gold was my terrier's favorite as well as mine. But I've had Panache in the SF Bay area which were great although in Texas Panache often isn't that great. Figs4Fun has an amazing variety of cuttings available in Spring every year: http://figs4fun.com/Fig_Scion.html

Celeste is a great fig. Somehow it doesnt seem to do all that well in the west coast, i.e. drops figs.

Improved Celeste is earlier and doesn't drop figs. It might be worth growing. But the earlier mentioned varieties are tastier IMO.

Not sure of its performance in other climes, but here on the upper Texas gulf coast I have never had a fig dropproblem with celeste. They hold and produce a delicious, closed eye fig around early to mid July.

Celeste is a great fig. Somehow it doesnt seem to do all that well in the west coast, i.e. drops figs.

Improved Celeste is earlier and doesn't drop figs. It might be worth growing. But the earlier mentioned varieties are tastier IMO.

Not sure of its performance in other climes, but here on the upper Texas gulf coast I have never had a fig dropproblem with celeste. They hold and produce a delicious, closed eye fig around early to mid July.

Thanks! I'm a novice fig grower - would it be expected for a potted fig that's planted out in the spring to abort its fruit that first year?What's done is done, but just curious.

Here the best fig to eat is the Pingo de Mel. It's just wonderfull! I have one and the little seeds are so tiny that i don't feel it when i eat them. Very very sweet like honey. The best ones to dry are the Milheiro Preto. They are black and very sweet.

Thanks! I'm a novice fig grower - would it be expected for a potted fig that's planted out in the spring to abort its fruit that first year?What's done is done, but just curious.

I have a first year Deanna fig tree that produced a couple of figs for me. It would have produced more but I pinched them off so that the tree would spend more energy growing. I've heard that other growers have gotten pretty decent crops off of first year trees. A lot is variety dependent, but also dependent on the local conditions, soil, watering, etc.